Italian Olive Oil

Pauline Kenny

I am not an olive oil expert, but I have bought olive oil to bring home
on all our Italy trips. These are my notes. For an expert's opinion, read
the food guidebooks.

There is nothing like the fresh, high quality olive oil. Good quality olive
oil is available in many regions of Italy. In my experience, each olive oil
producing region of Italy declares their oil to be the best. People who really
know oil can taste differences by region or by areas within the region. It
all tastes good to me.

When you are in Italy, buy the best quality oil you can find. The prices
are so much lower there that you can get the best oil for what we pay here
for average oil. Even in Italy, poor quality oil is sold (those big bottles
in the supermarket). The best oil is purchased like wine - from the farm or
from a specialty shop. Oil is sold in bottles (usually 1 liter) or tins (3
liters or 5 liters). We always bring back a 5 liter tin and another 5 liters
in bottles. The oil in bottles is frequently corked, like wine.

Box of olive oil from Arezzo farm, 5 liter tin of
oil from Spello.

Check the expiration date on the bottle

When you purchase oil in Italy, be sure to check the date on the bottle.
You want the oil from the most recent harvest. Olives are harvested in November
or December, then bottled in the new year. By law in Italy, the container
must have the date the oil expires, which is two years after the production
date. Some bottles have the harvest date or the production date listed as
well. Most people will tell you that you should not get oil over a year old.

In the US you will frequently find Italian oil that is over two years from
the harvest date (I see this all the time in specialty shops in Santa Fe).
Only certain brands imported to the US have either the expiration or harvest
date on them - most have no date because we do not have the same laws as Italy.

A small olive oil producer in Tuscany told us that much of the poor quality
oil sold in Italian supermarkets is old. The law requires the expiration date
to be two years from when the oil is bottled, but some mass produced olive
oil sits for years waiting to be bottled, so you are getting an old oil when
you think you are getting a new oil. I don't know if this is true, but if
you purchase your oil from a farm you have a better chance of getting "fresh"
oil.

Where to get your oil

You can find top quality olive oil on estates throughout Tuscany, Umbria
and Liguria (and other regions too, but I haven't looked anywhere else). Many
books that list wine estates will also list olive oil estates. Buy the oil
at the estate shop or in a specialty shop (like an enoteca). We have listed
some of our favorites below.

Don't bring back brands you can easily get here, like Badia Il Coltibuono,
or Laudemio.

Olive oil is also sold in the Agricultural Cooperatives (these stores are
all over Tuscany). The oil sold here in 5 liter tins is inexpensive (I remember
it being about $25) and is supposed to be from the olives of the region, but
we were told that when they run out of regional olives they bring in the inferior
olives from the south (that is what an olive farmer told us).

Filtered or Unfiltered

Unfiltered olive oil tends to be more expensive and they recommend using
it not for cooking, but for a condiment (like on a salad). We love the unfiltered
oil and use it for cooking anyway. Filtering just adds another step to the
production process.

What does organic olive oil mean?

In the US, we buy organically grown produce, dairy products and oils. We
firmly believe in the small farm and organic movement. There is a comparable
movement in Italy. You will see olive oil producers that say they are organic
or biodynamic (biodynamic is organic with the farming methods based on the
teachings of Rudolf Steiner - an incredible agricultural system). When we
are in Italy, we hunt out the organic and biodynamic producers. This may not
be as important to you as it is to us.

Many people tell us that all the oil in Tuscany is organic, that we are
crazy to go to organic farms. This may be true in some regions (for example,
the Val d'Orcia region in the Crete and around Pienza encourage farmers to
limit their use of chemicals) - but who knows? There is an organic and biodynamic
movement in Italy for a reason (to offer products produced without chemicals),
so we buy from them.

We have found good organic producers in Spello, Arezzo and Pienza - see
our list below. The Carla Capalbo book has good information on both wine and
olive oil producers (The Food Lovers Companion to Tuscany).

Italian Organic Olive Oil Producers

This organic olive oil producer is located on the main street of Montisi,
a village north of Pienza. His oil is expensive but high quality. He offers
early harvest oils which are very expensive.

October 2001: We bought a 5 liter tin of the December oil (his least expensive
oil, 140,000 for 5 liters - 28,000 per liter, $14). Wonderful oil. We got
to join a Butterfield and Robinson bike tour group for a tour of his small
processing plant. The owner also showed us a simple vacation rental apartment
he has. The same people own the La Romita restaurant next door, which is supposed
to be excellent, but we didn't get around to trying it. The Butterfield and
Robinson guys ate there.

September 1999. Recommended in the CC book. Organic olive oil, wine, vegetable
preserves. Also tourist rentals. We brought home 6 bottles of olive oil and
some of the preserves. They were great. The farm is easy to find. Drive up
the long driveway and park. The shop is small and always crowded with Germans.
This farm caters to Germans - the labels on the bottles are Italian and German
and they will speak to you in German when you go in the store.

October 2001. Went there again for 6 bottles of olive oil to take home
(750ml bottles, 21,000 lire each ($10) - works out to 28,000 per liter ($14)).

Organic olive oil from farm near Bevagna (also have vacation rentals on
farm). Mauro will ship the oil to the US. If you get it shipped by paying
him the FedEx shipping, it is cheaper than charging it to your account, because
he gets a special rate. Several members of the SlowTalk message board have
ordered oil from Le Case Gialle.

This store (across from the restaurant "La Cantina") sells wonderful organic
olive oil from their nearby farm and sauces that they make. The woman running
the business was great and let us sample the olive oil with bread, then she
made us try about 10 different sauces on small pieces of bread (excellent).
We had just had a big lunch and were already full! Then she took us to the
basement to show us a huge box of dried porcini; the smell was incredible.
We bought a five liter tin of the organic olive oil (110,000 lire). That works
out to about $11 per liter. (You can find 5 liter tins for half that price
in the Siena Consorzio Agrario Provinciale, but it is not organic or as high
quality.) The tin can makes it easy to carry home. We also got some of the
little jars of sauce (1 arugula, 2 white truffles and porcini, 2 black truffles
and porcini).

They have a web page and will ship the organic olive oil. The new oil from
the December harvest is available in January.